Notice: There is a scene in this chapter where Chris and Charlie encounter their other selves; to avoid confusion, DURING THAT SCENE ONLY Charlie and Chris are the current selves; while Charlotte and Christopher are from the Unchanged future.
Chris knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, that panicking wouldn't solve the situation. It was a trait he had picked up from years of sudden demon attacks and life threatening situations; panic never helped, it only caused more issues.
Despite his knowledge, however, the dead weight of Charlotte in his arms was enough to spike his heart rate. Her gold eyes and steady pulse somewhat eased his mind, but the lingering thoughts about what she might see, or how it would affect her once she woke up, weren't willing to be squashed. Still cradling his friend in a bridal style, he let her down onto her bedspread and ignored the indignant yowl of the familiar lurking in the shadows. With nothing left to do, Chris sank down onto the edge of the bed and plucked at a stray thread, his eyes never leaving Charlotte. Unlike other times she had accessed her powers, there was no sand to be seen. His theory, however unable he was to support it, was that the sand was a manifestation of her attempts at using her powers that failed midway through. It explained the sand when she woke up in the mornings, having slipped in and out of her powers while unconscious but failing to hook onto them properly.
At least he hoped the sand was not a permanent attachment to the powers; it would be hard for her to use them if each time it required an unfathomable amount of sand to be dumped into the general San Francisco area.
His cell phone began to vibrate in his pocket, the screen lighting up with his Mother's name and image. His chest felt as though it was weighed down by ice and he declined the call with bile rising in his throat. It only took seconds before his phone was alight again, this time with his Aunt Paige; followed by his Aunt Phoebe as his thumb brushed the decline button. They knew he wasn't where he should be, and it would be hard to talk his way out of this one.
The fleeting thought that he should mask his aura had just flickered through his mind when the bedroom was filled with orbs; the images of his mother and aunts filling the small room.
"Christopher."
"I can explain,"
He didn't want to have to, but with Charlotte passed out on the bed and his mother looking as though she was ready to burn the apartment to the ground if she didn't get an answers, he knew he would either have to confess, or come up with an excellent lie.
At this point, he was hoping a lie would cover it; but when he saw the look in his mother's eyes, the blank, cold glare, he knew that it wouldn't. Maybe this time, the truth might not even be enough.
"I know you're angry right now, and I swear I can explain; but right now, she needs my help and I need to be here. Charlotte-"
As if hearing her name, Charlotte's hand jerked off the bed and clasped around his; the floor dropping out from underneath him before he could comprehend what had happened. He heard his mother call out his name before all of the noise of Charlotte's bedroom faded out, and he found himself staring into golden eyes.
"…whoops?"
"What do you mean you can't heal them, Leo?" Phoebe asked.
The blue glow of the whitelighter's hands dulled over the top of his son and the young woman, both now positioned on the floor of the Halliwell attic, hands still entwined. The sisters had tried to separate them, but each time they got close they had been thrown back by an invisible force. Only Leo had been allowed through, but as soon as his hands had lingered too close to their interlocked fingers, he too had been shoved away.
"They're not sick, Phoebe. Neither of them are even wounded, they're just… unconscious?"
Chris's eyes were closed, but Charlotte's remained open and rushing with sand. The image pulled at a familiar string in Leo's mind, but he couldn't place it. Piper had already decided the woman was connected to, if not the, Keeper of the Grains; and stood fuming in the corner.
"When will they wake up?"
Wyatt had orbed into the manor, awoken by the feeling that something was wrong. Piper had tried to keep him out of the loop, but the Halliwell stubbornness had prevailed in Wyatt. He had his back to the door of the attic, arms folded over his chest. He frowned in the general direction of his brother; worried for his safety and annoyed that Chris had kept him out of such an important life moment. Since childhood, their brotherhood bond had been stronger than any friendships they had formed, and yet Chris was always the one hiding extra secrets. It had always been part of his personality to be secretive, almost closed off at times, but that didn't mean Wyatt had to like it.
"Hard to say," Leo reasoned as he checked both pulses, satisfied when they were steady and calmed, "If I knew what was doing this-"
"The Book has nothing," Paige cut in, almost unsure to speak in Piper's presence after her and Phoebe's eagerness to insist that Charlotte was harmless.
"When they wake up," Piper said, finally breaking her stoic silence, "We'll ask her questions. We'll ask both of them questions. And they either tell us everything, or Chris is grounded for life and we make sure she never comes into contact with him again,"
"Piper-"
"Chris will not die on me, Leo. Not again."
Chris stumbled back into the wall, startled by Charlotte's sudden appearance. He didn't know where they were; only that the hallway was dim and narrow, lined with several closed doors. He could only assume that this was the Resistance his former self had written about.
"How did you bring me here?"
"Uhh, that's a really great question, actually. I remember you saying there was sand on my palms; and then I touched the journal, and all of a sudden I'm here, but nothing is happening. Last time I was dropped right into the middle of a conversation. But anyway, I heard you say my name, and then suddenly here you were."
Chris peered down the hallway in both directions, unnerved by the silence. He wasn't sure how Charlotte's powers worked just yet, but he was confident that no harm could come to them on this end of the trance. He briefly contemplated telling Charlotte that his mother and aunts had appeared in her bedroom, but he immediately squashed the thought. She had somehow managed to harness her power, and he wouldn't take this chance away from her.
"Do you know where your hands were in the journal?"
For the time being, it seemed as though Charlotte's grip on her power was tied to having a physical connection to something she was trying to see. Chris was sure her powers would develop over time until she could access any time period or parallel dimension without the physical aide, but for now, his journal was definitely a blessing.
"Nope, I just slid my thumb into the pages when I picked it up. Somewhere in the beginning, maybe?"
Footsteps approaching from behind made them turn around, the conversation forgotten when Chris saw his other self. Charlie had given a brief description, as had his aunts on more than one occasion; but to see himself looking different from the reflection he was used to was surreal.
Christopher clutched a tray in one hand; a bottle of water, a sandwich and a slightly bruised apple balanced atop it. With his free hand, he rapped six times on one of the doors before placing his open palm against the wood and murmuring a few words. The door handle turned of its own accord and creaked open, letting him through. Chris and Charlie wasted no time following after him; descending the small staircase into a room lined with empty beds.
Almost empty beds.
"You can go,"
Three tall, well-muscled boys no older than eighteen all nodded and headed up the stairs, revealing the one occupied bed behind their human shield. Beside him, Charlie sucked in a quiet gasp as she saw her other self shackled to the wall behind the bed, her legs in cuffs as well.
"I brought you lunch,"
"How thoughtful. Don't suppose you brought the keys to these?"
Charlotte gave the chains a pointed rattle, but Christopher sat down in the chair a safe distance from the bed and set the tray on the bed. The chains around her wrists were long enough that she had a wide range of movement, but still kept her in position.
"I'll let you out when I know you're not a threat. You know that,"
"But how are you supposed to know I'm not a threat when you refuse to believe a word I say?"
Christopher sighed and brought his elbows to his knees before rubbing his eyes tiredly, "Charlotte…"
"Yeah, I know; you lost good people to Wyatt's spies and I'm suspicious as hell. I get it."
She reached for her food and began to pick at her sandwich, her gaze never leaving Christopher. Eventually, he was the one to break the silence.
"Tell me again."
Chris and Charlie frowned in confusion, not having read any of this in Chris's journal. Apparently Charlie's powers were already growing enough to bring them close enough to places in time that Chris hadn't even written about.
Charlotte swallowed her bite of sandwich and settled back onto the bed.
"Time Keeper. You know that bit, right?" when Christopher nodded, she continued, "Well, the Elders were planning on doing something nasty to your brother to try and stop this War, and the old Time Keeper was against it, but he knew he had held onto the power for too long, and it needed a new host. He teamed up with some Elders-"
"Including Leo,"
"Yes, including Leo. They wanted you to be able to stop this, so they planned to transfer all of Alexander's powers to me so I wouldn't have to wait for my powers to adapt over time. Unfortunately, they'd waited too long and Wyatt was already planning his attack. He interrupted the power transfer, so while I'm pretty good, I'm not great."
"So Wyatt being Up There had nothing to do with you? He has no idea that you're here to help me? He didn't take out the Elders that day because you were his adversary or his confidant? Because we've lost good people who were on both sides of Wyatt because they came here to escape him, or to spy for him. It was all just… a coincidence?"
Charlie and Chris could see the distrust in Christopher's eyes, but it was layered over a sparkle of hope. The journal hadn't been overly descriptive of Charlotte's imprisonment at the Resistance, only that Christopher had wanted to be one hundred percent sure that her presence wasn't another trap to lead everything into chaos.
"Yep. Those do happen, you know,"
Christopher tipped back on two legs of the chair and propped his feet on the mattress, clearly at ease in Charlotte's presence.
"What exactly did the Elders expect you to do to help me?"
The question was clearly something he hadn't asked before, because Charlotte paused with the water bottle halfway to her mouth. As she replaced the cap, she offered Chris a shrug.
"Actually, that's one question I can't answer. When they grabbed me on the way to Boston, they told me they'd explain everything once they had given me my powers. Only they didn't get that far. I assume one day I'll know, but for now, I've only got a few ideas."
Christopher tipped his head to the side and sighed, "I'm sorry about what happened in Salem. And to your parents. And that I couldn't heal you,"
Charlotte's chained hand reached up to graze the pink wound that marked her face; a reminder of the Salem massacre. The Elders had promised to heal it when they were finished, but they had never been given the chance.
"Not your fault," Charlotte said, "I'm sorry I lied to you when I came here. I'm sorry I gave your girlfriend a black eye,"
"You lied because you didn't trust us. And I chained you to a bed because I didn't trust you,"
Christopher dug around in his pocket and removed a heavy key that glowed with magic. It fit into the lock of the chains and they fell away, Charlotte's eyes widening when Christopher sat down at the edge of her bed.
"For what it's worth, I trust you now. I've been doing research, and at this point… we've got nothing much else to lose. Wyatt's winning; and I need a miracle. We all do. You said you had some ideas… what were they?"
Charlotte dug her nails into the red flesh of the apple Christopher had given her, her eyes not willing to meet his. A gust of sand ghosted across the floor and Charlotte looked up, a ripple of golden shimmer dancing across her eyes before disappearing.
"How do you feel about time travel?"
Piper was reached a level of meltdown that no one had seen in a long time. Her pacing had become frantic before eventually she had slumped into the sofa, her hands clasped and her gaze never leaving Chris and Charlotte on the floor. Wyatt had taken up the space beside his brother, saying very little unless one of his aunts asked a question. The Halliwell manor was rarely this silent, and Piper was sure the neighbours would at least appreciate the break.
Chris' body jerked away from the floor, his hand untangling from Charlotte's as he sat up and surveyed his surroundings. Piper dropped to her knees beside him and swatted Wyatt away.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine, Charlie… Charlie?"
Charlotte still lay motionless on the floor, her eyes wide open and sifting through gold sand. He reached out to shake her, but Piper gripped his hand like a vice.
"Don't touch her,"
The mothering tone was laced with anger; enough for Chris to reluctantly pull his hand away but still keep close. He looked around the attic, finding his aunts, parents and older brother all staring pointedly at him, waiting for him to speak. He knew there was no way out of it; especially since they had seen Charlotte use her powers.
Chris took a deep breath and began to tell his side of the story, desperate to cut details in so many places but knowing it would only cause them further trouble. He hoped, though he knew it was a reach that if he was honest with everyone, they would still leave him to his own devices.
He watched his mother's horrified responses to his flashbacks; the way Wyatt tensed when Chris spoke about the torture the unchanged Wyatt did to him in his mind; his father's attempt at hiding his pride when Chris told them that he had found Charlie, unaware she had powers and unable to use them. When he told them that he and Charlie had known each other in the Resistance, that she had been the one to help him get into the past, he was finally interrupted.
"But… you never mentioned her," Paige interjected, "I mean, if she was important, why did you never say anything?"
"Probably the same reason I never talked about the future," Chris reasoned, "The consequences might have been too great,"
"So what is she then?" Piper asked, her tone flat as she stared down at Charlotte, "You said magic brought you to her to help you find out why you're getting these flashbacks; what's so special about her?"
Chris bit his tongue until he tasted blood. He knew he could trust his family with his life, but Charlotte's predicament was delicate and far more fragile than anything else. He knew his mother would panic; his father would be torn between his loyalty to the Elders and his family obligations. Apparently he had paused for too long, because his mother began to speak again.
"Because we saw the two of you tonight. We saw the sand she dropped, and maybe you know what that means and maybe you don't-
"Were you following me?" Chris asked, the outrage slipping from his tongue and only serving to fuel Piper's anger.
"Don't you dare take that tone with me, Christopher! Phoebe was with a Seer when she had a premonition about you. And you dying because you became involved with a Keeper of the Grains who leads you to your death; so what kind of powers does she have and how well do you know her, because as far as I'm concerned she is not to be trusted."
Chris balked at the new information. It made sense, and it explained the way his aunts and mother had been behaving for the last few days. Wyatt, who had apparently been out of the loop, seemed unimpressed with the lack of information.
"What's a Keeper of the Grains?"
Piper pointed to Charlotte, but Leo, ever the pacifist, folded his arms, "Well, we're not too sure. It sounds familiar, but nothing in the Book refers to anything like that. Your mother, however," he added off Piper's glare of death, "has a point in assuming that Charlotte could be the person to lead you astray. We're just looking out for you."
Chris was saved from responding by Charlotte sitting up without warning, her eyes now blue but her skin paper white.
"I'm going to puke,"
Chris grabbed her hand without a second thought and orbed into the bathroom, hearing his mother's angry yell followed by several pairs of footsteps thundering down the stairs. Chris held Charlotte's hair back while she retched into the toilet, coughing and spluttering until she finally curled up against the cold floor tiles just as Piper and co burst into the bathroom.
"Is she okay?"
Wyatt pushed past his parents to crouch down besides Charlotte, the blue healing glow of his hand cautiously running the length of her back before it dimmed away. Charlotte looked up, finally meeting Wyatt for the first time.
"…hi. I'm fine. Thank you."
"What happened?"
Apparently unfazed by the audience they had gathered, Charlotte sat up and braced herself against the wall.
"After the Resistance, I thought we were leaving. I saw you disappear, but I got… yanked back by something. I don't know where I was, but it smelled horrible. There was barely any light, just people everywhere, they looked like they were dead but they were still moving…" her voice trailed off, and even Piper's face had softened before she continued, "I walked through a door and there was someone… being burned alive. And then I woke up."
Chris slid his hand to her back and let it rest there, unsure how to comfort her. He knew nothing like that had been in his journal, which meant Charlotte had somehow managed to transport herself into an entirely different part of time, which frightened him. In just one day, Charlotte's powers had already jumped far further than he had ever imagined, and there was no telling what the confrontation with his family would do to her.
Phoebe, ever the mediator, cleared her throat and caught everyone's attention.
"How about we all go down to the living room. I'll make some tea, and we can all talk this out like the civilised adults we are. Charlotte?"
The girl on the floor tipped her head to the side in confusion, staring Phoebe in the eyes, "Your voice is really familiar…" she said, her voice soft and confused.
Phoebe had the decency to blush, "I can explain that when we get downstairs. Are you okay to get up?"
Charlotte got to her feet, albeit a tad unsteady. Piper, still torn between a glare and sympathy, was the first to make her way downstairs. The last two out were Charlie and Chris, Charlie catching Chris by the upper arm before they reached the staircase.
"Chris? I'm so sorry,"
"Don't apologise, Charlie. This was going to happen eventually. I should have seen it coming,"
Charlie chewed her bottom lip, face still white and eyes now dimmer than before. What she had seen seemed to have robbed her of a little light.
"Chris?"
"Yeah?"
"…I have a really bad feeling,"
"Me too,"
The mug of peppermint tea burned away at the inside of Chris' palms. The sinking feeling in his gut hadn't disappeared; a mixture of dread concerning his mother, and worry for what Charlotte had seen. Had she simply been thrown into a part of time that wasn't related to them; or had she stumbled onto something from the unchanged timeline. Or worse, had what she seen been something from their future if this went wrong?
Phoebe had designated herself the mediator of the scene; arranging a seat from the dining table at the front of the room and facing into the circle of people on the couches. Piper and Leo sat together on the loveseat; while Chris kept a protective place next to Charlie on the opposite couch. Paige and Wyatt flanked the walls; his aunt bursting to the seams with curiosity, but his brother quiet and masked like Chris had never seen.
It had always been hard for Wyatt to know what his other self had done. The revelation of the unchanged future when Chris had turned sixteen had been a rough year for the Twice Blessed; but when he had begun to learn about his actions through Chris's journal, he had spiralled into a dark place. Chris had pulled him out and fought tooth and nail for his brother to understand that he was never to blame for anything that had happened but he knew that the thought would always linger in the back of Wyatt's mind.
"Okay," Phoebe began, "Now the rules of this are simple. One: no interrupting. I know that's going to be hard for some of you, but we're going to keep this civil. Two: We need to be honest with one another. Three: If you have something to say, you wait until the person has finished speak and then you can speak,"
"We're not toddlers, Phoebe," Paige said.
Phoebe leaned back in the chair and shrugged, "I'm just trying to make things easier for everyone. Okay, I'll go first. Charlotte… the reason you thought you recognised me is because… I was at the bar tonight. Piper, Paige and I went in glamour to check up on you,"
Chris looked outraged, clearly ready to interrupt but forcing himself to remain calm. Charlotte, however, squinted between the three women and tipped her head.
"You guys can do that? I mean, you can just change into someone else? Can everyone do that? Could I do that?"
Phoebe couldn't help but smile, remembering how young she had been when she discovered her powers and remembering the awe of so many possibilities.
"Well, that depends. Chris hasn't exactly told us what your powers are yet, but since you're a witch, you could definitely cast the spell to do it. Which brings me to my next question,"
Phoebe explained why she and her sisters had followed Charlie; about the premonition the woman had given her and what they had seen tonight. The longer Phoebe spoke, the tighter Charlotte gripped to the seat, her knuckles turning white until Chris pulled them away before she could hurt herself.
"I'm going to kill you?" Charlotte asked quietly, looking up at Chris with wide eyes "Is everything I'm doing making it worse?"
Chris knew he had to choose his words carefully. Admittedly, the flashbacks were becoming worse by the day, but there was no way to prove that it was Charlotte's doing.
"I think the Seer might have things wrong. This veil thing might just be the gap between the unchanged future and now. I want to know more, but maybe my downfall will be knowing so much about a future that doesn't matter. You're not going to kill me."
"So you are the Keeper of the Grains then?" Piper said, her eyes locked on Charlotte, "What is that?"
Charlotte fidgeted with her jewellery, "I'm, um, a Time Keeper?"
The response was met with blank faces; only Leo seeming to understand what she had said, but shaking his head.
"No, no that's not possible. Time Keepers are a myth,"
"Actually, dad, they're real," Chris admitted. He launched into a quick explanation of everything, watching his mother's burning desire to interrupt slowly build, matched by both his aunts and Wyatt.
"If Time Keepers were real, I would know about it," Leo said firmly, "There is no way."
Charlotte chewed on her bottom lip, feeling helpless under the scrutiny. For a fleeting moment, she wanted nothing more than to sink down into the floor and never come back up.
"Dad, I really just need you to believe me, okay? Time Keepers are real: Charlotte is one. Charlotte and I knew each other in the Unchanged future; in fact, she's the reason I was able to go into the past. When Wyatt- when Evil Wyatt," he corrected, "had almost destroyed everything, the Elders set free the powers and brought Charlotte to me. She and I worked out a way to send me to the past in a way that would let me make a surgical strike, rather than mess too much up. When I started having flashbacks, I did a spell to find a way to figure out why, and magic brought me to her, Alexander, the old Time Keeper, said he knew she would be coming and that she needed her powers. She's not going to lead me to my death; she's probably going to save me,"
"Seems like you left out a few details when you told us about this before," Paige remarked dryly. Chris rolled his eyes, but focused on his parents, desperate for them to understand.
"Please, I am begging you to just trust me. Charlie and I are onto something big here; I'm learning so much about my other self, so much about who I was and what I did. If I can find out why I'm having these awful flashbacks, maybe I can finally get myself together and get everything figured out,. Please… let Charlie stay."
"The Time Keeper belongs to us,"
The disembodied voice echoed around the room and Chris pulled Charlotte close to him and out of harm's way. Clusters of orbs appeared in the living room, six Elders forming across from them.
"The Time Keeper was stolen from our possession, and she will be returned,"
Chris recognised the speaker, an Elder named Gregory. Gregory was, to put it bluntly, an asshole. He had been one of the Elders who had lobbied for the removal of Chris and the sisters' memories regarding the unchanged future when Chris had begun to have memories about it. He had also been on the side of Elders who wanted to bind Wyatt's powers to prevent any "unfortunate incidents".
Needless to say, neither suggestion had gone over well with Piper. She had threatened to blow Gregory to pieces should he ever set foot in her household again. It seemed Piper remembered her promise.
"Get out."
A second Elder lowered his hood, revealing himself as Kellan, the youngest of the group.
"Piper, we're not here for Wyatt or Chris. We know that our past decisions have been incorrect, and we would never try and come between you and your family again. The girl, however… she needs to come with us. The power of the Time Keeper belongs in the hands of the Elders; it cannot be trusted with anyone else,"
"Why did you never tell me about this?" Leo demanded, "That you have been harbouring this power for so long; keeping it hidden from the world. Why did you never tell us that it even existed?"
"The existence of Nathaniel, and Alexander, his successor, was to be kept a complete secret. Only those high enough in the circle of Elders was permitted to know about it. I'm sorry; Leo, but your loyalty to the Charmed Ones always made you a risk."
Chris gripped tight to Charlie's hand, willing to orb them away at a moment's notice. This wasn't even about him needing her help now; he would rather die than let her be trapped forever in the Elder's grasp.
"Alexander acted without our knowledge. When the power of the Time Keepers was passed onto him, it was controlled and contained. Alexander could have done irreparable damage to… the new host," Kellan continued.
Chris narrowed his eyes, "She has a name,"
"Her name is not relevant," Gregory interrupted, the tone of his voice clear that he didn't care for Chris any more since the last time he saw him, "Only that she is taken back where we can watch over her. The Time Keeper powers belong to us, and we will take the host by force if it comes to it."
The words had no sooner fallen from his lips than Piper had shattered him to thousands of pieces.
"There will be nothing done by force in this household," she said, her voice unwavering, "Tell me why she needs to go with you. What damage could this Alexander have done?"
Kellan looked to his second in command, a tall Elder who did not lower his hood. His voice was low and raspy.
"The creation of the Time Keepers was a horrific mistake, but it was also a necessity. We have been watching Charlotte since Alexander gave her the power; and we have already seen the effects they have had on her without the proper guidance. With us, her environment will be carefully controlled; the powers will not be allowed to consume her, and she will live a long and full life. "
"Yeah, alone in an untouchable realm," Chris spat, feeling Charlotte's hand tremble in his own, "You're not just going to take her away, you're going to lock her in a tower with no doors and make sure she can't ever escape until it's convenient for you. Besides, if you've been watching us, you know that Charlotte is the only reason I was able to save your asses in the unchanged future. You wanted to erase Wyatt from the time stream, and Alexander wouldn't let you so he found Charlotte to help me. The one time you've needed to use a Time Keeper, and your first instinct was to murder an innocent person,"
"Those decisions were never acted upon in this reality," Kellan defended, but he wilted under Chris's gaze.
"It still counts. It will always count. If you take Charlotte away, I will never stop looking for her. I will make every day for you a living hell until you give her back,"
"We are not scared of Christopher Halliwell," an Elder said, clearly amused.
The Charmed Ones bristled, fired into a rage by the treatment of one of their own, but it was Wyatt who spoke, his voice unnervingly calm.
"But you are scared of me,"
He crossed the room in four strides and brought his hand down to Charlotte's free hand.
"You said Charlotte's powers needed guidance; and we'll give her that. You'll tell us how to help her and make sure her powers don't grow out of control. Furthermore," Chris smiled at the use of the word, knowing his brother hated "fruity fancy words" like that, "You'll give us any and all information you have about the Time Keepers, as well as a detailed record of what happened to the previous two, and if they were ever considered for use. If any of you ever touch her, or my brother, you won't have the support of me or my powers. I will burn anything and everything to the ground if any harm comes to either of them, and the Elder responsible for it will pay, as well as anyone who took part in it. You've made it clear on more than one occasion that the Charmed Ones and the Twice Blessed are your highest priority… so make sure I don't have a reason to make you not a priority at all."
"Is that a threat?"
"Yes."
The Elders shared a glance and a clack of tongues before Kellan stepped forward.
"The Elders are willing to accept your proposal, with the warning that should the Time Keeper- should Charlotte," he corrected when Chris narrowed his eyes, "become a threat to the magic community, they will do what is necessary,"
"And so will I," Wyatt replied, his face a stoic mask, "Now leave. I want everything I asked for the be delivered to the manor by tomorrow, or I'll come looking for it,"
Kellan nodded and orbed away, followed by the remaining Elders. The living room was quick, save for the gentle tick of the grandfather clock. Charlotte was the first to speak as she squeezed Wyatt's hand and looked up at him.
"…thank you,"
He smiled and squeeze her hand gently, "Don't let them scare you, they're just uptight assholes,"
Charlotte smiled, a soft and genuine laugh spilling from her lips. Not one to be ignored, Piper cleared her throat and tapped one foot on the ground. Chris tensed, waiting for his mother to tell them Charlotte wasn't welcome in the house; that she was a danger to Chris and therefore a threat. He was already planning his response when Piper began to speak.
"I would like to apologise for my behaviour tonight. I shouldn't have treated you that way, and I should have given you the benefit of the doubt. I know it isn't an excuse, but not everyone who has come into our life has been a good person. And we've lost people we love because of it. That said," she continued after a soft pause, "If Chris and Wyatt trust you, I do too. And I… we would like to help however we can,"
Phoebe and Paige nodded in earnest, while Leo offered only a warm smile in Charlotte's direction.
"On one condition," Piper added, pointedly ignoring the looks she was given by her youngest son, "No secrets. If we want to figure this out, everyone needs to be in the loop at all times. I want to know everything, and I want to know it as soon as possible,"
"Mom-"
"I was talking to Charlotte, actually, Chris," Piper intervened calmly.
Charlotte, however, did not respond. Instead, Chris turned to find her staring at a fistful of her hair, her lips parted in confusion.
"Charlie?"
She didn't respond, only held up the strands of her hair clutched between her fingers and let them watch as they slowly faded to grey.
